The Order of Ash
by MyDearWatson
Summary: After five years of training and gathering information, twelve companions move to meet once again in Crocus, prepared to move forward in their journey to take down The Order of Ash - the demon generals that are in charge of the demon hordes that have taken over Fiore. They know the next step - becoming demon slayers. But becoming what you hunt is always a tragedy in the making.
1. Stepping Forward

**A/N: **Here we are again. Please check out the A/N after the chapter.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

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**Chapter One: Stepping Forward**

Aldric Voss stared silently at his hand as the black Fairy Tail guild mark slowly faded away. He vaguely heard people around the guild wishing him luck and that he would always be welcomed back to the guild, but he knew the moment he stepped out of the guild hall, he would never be back. He had put in his five years of training and searching, and it was time to meet back up with the people he considered family.

Once the guild mark had completely vanished, he looked up at the guild master – Laxus Dreyar. He had to admit that the man had aged quite well, considering he had a son that was only five years younger than him. But his eyes…his eyes were still alight with the lightning magic that he had now mastered. They were bright and fierce and Aldric was certain that those eyes also knew that he would never be back. And his confirmation of this came in the form of a silent nod from the blonde man, Laxus not even bothering to go through the vows he would normally go over when someone left or retired from Fairy Tail.

Aldric took this as his goodbye from the man, nodded at him, and simply turned from him. He made his way towards the large double doors of the guild hall, still hearing guild members calling out to him. He didn't bother with any other goodbyes, not even with any of the other children that had come to call him an older brother and had looked up to him. He just wanted a clean break and to go about his business. Fairy Tail had simply been a stepping stone to his end goal.

But he admitted to himself that he felt relief when the doors finally shut behind him. He took in the feeling of his thick leather armor and the cold, wet autumn weather around him, and felt free for a brief moment, until a low voice ruined it all.

"That was a bit cold, leaving like that."

Aldric looked to his left to see Gray Fullbuster leaning up against the guild hall. He stood under the large awning like Aldric did to keep the rain from falling on him. The ice mage had a cold glint to his eyes, but he at least gave Aldric a small smile.

"I don't like dramatic goodbyes," he replied as he pulled on thick brown gloves. He looked down to make sure his dark jeans and tall black boots were securely in place.

"Clearly," Gray said, letting a long pause pass through them. He finally let out a sigh and ran a hand through his messy black hair, "Sylvia is going to be upset when she gets back from her mission to find that you left…permanently."

Aldric checked to make sure that his lance was also locked into place on his back, "If you're trying to get me to stay, it won't work."

"Oh, I know. I'm just saying, she's gonna be upset."

Aldric stared at Gray for a long moment as he pulled his long brown hair up into a bun. Once he felt that it would stay in place, despite a few strands falling from the bun, he answered the ice mage, "That chickie is tough," he said, letting a smirk appear briefly when he saw Gray twitch at the nickname he had for his daughter, "She'll be able to handle it."

"But you purposely waited until her team was out on a mission, didn't you?"

"Yeah…"

"You couldn't handle it?"

Aldric looked away from Gray, staring up at the rain, "I tried not to make friends here, but…"

"But it happened anyway? Yeah, that's how it always happens here."

Hunter green eyes locked onto dark blue ones, "It wasn't supposed to." Silence passed through them again, Gray knowing the man meant what he said. It was Aldric's turn to sigh and run a hand down his face, "Sorry, I know that sounded rude."

"It did, but I suppose I understand where you're coming from. Still gonna be pretty damn hard to explain it to Sylvia. Juvia will probably blame everything on me, like always."

"Maybe you should try and reconcile with that ex-wife of yours," Aldric said with another smirk, knowing that Gray fixing things between him and Juvia was just as likely as him walking back into the guild to rejoin it.

"Tch, that woman is crazy. The only good thing that came out of the relationship was Sylvia."

"You should give Juvia more credit. She's a good person and a good mother. You're just not good together."

Gray's only reply was another, "Tch."

Aldric looked to the sky again, "I better get going before people start thinking I'm staying," he said before glancing back at Gray, "Thanks…for all your help with everything."

Gray gave him a serious look, "I suppose this is where I should say that going hunting for demons is stupid and bat shit crazy, but I really have no room to talk," he said, both men looking down to the black markings covering one of his hands, "And these demons are taking over Fiore. They aren't like the ones we fought back when Tartarus was around. These aren't demons that were created from a book and they definitely aren't like the villagers on Galuna Island. They are real hellfire and brimstone demons, and we need all the help we can get against them. Don't let all your training go to waste."

"I won't."

"And I know you're not just hunting any old demons either. Killing off the pawns won't stop more from coming. I know you're going after the Order of Ash."

"You have to take the head to stop the rest of the body."

"I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into," Gray said, holding out his black marked hand towards him, "A lot of people think this shit makes me look cool, but it's just a struggle to get through the day sometimes. If you're going to become what I think you're going to become, you have to know that you're going to lose pieces, more like chunks, of yourself. If you come back, you'll never be like you are now ever again."

"I know that and I've accepted that…we have all accepted that," Aldric said, thinking about the people that will be waiting for him in Crocus, "But we have our reasons for hunting demons. We have our reasons for becoming demon slayers."

Gray watched the man, hearing no hesitation in his voice and seeing that he would not be wavered. He then dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a worn, leather journal, "You'll need this," he said as he handed it over to Aldric.

"What is it?"

"My father's journal from his time in Tartarus. They may have been demons created by a book, but he took detailed notes of everything he encountered during his time with them, including some real demons like the ones we have running around now. It will help you along with the information I was able to gather for you. You still have that notebook as well?"

"Yes," Aldric said, placing the worn journal in the travel pack he carried over one shoulder. He tightened the bag back up and threw it back over his shoulder. He then stuck his hand out to Gray, "Thank you."

Gray grabbed his hand tightly and shook it, "Thank you for everything you're about to do. I know that you won't come back to rejoin the guild, but if you ever need help, I'll be here."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said with another shake of their hands before letting go, "Tell that chickie of yours that I expect her to kick your ass and become S-Class."

"Like she needs any more encouragement," Gray said with a shake of his head, "Aldric," he added in a somber tone, "Don't forget yourself. You might lose pieces of yourself, but don't forget why you're doing what you're doing. Don't forget the part of you that started this journey. I really don't want to have to come kick your ass because you lost it."

Aldric stared at Gray, looked down at the black marked hand, and then back up at the man, "So long as you don't forget yourself either."

With that, Aldric threw his hood up and stepped out into the rain, stepping closer towards his goal and farther from the man he would only remember himself being.

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**A/N:** And there we are! I hope you enjoyed it!

So this idea has been bothering be for a while and I finally gave in and wrote it up. It's going to be a bit different than what I normally do for SYOCs, but I wanted to try something different and new. I suppose you could say it's my take on a mixture of SYOC and Next Gen. The Next Gen portion obviously won't be the main focus, but they are in there a bit. I have also always wanted to delve deeper into slayer magic, so this is also my take on that. But I hope some of you will be interested in this and that I get some interesting submissions for it.

This will not be a first come first serve type of submission. It will be a quality based submission as there are only 9 spots open for characters. This will not be a huge guild based SYOC as it will focus around a smaller group of characters that come together to take out the demons that have taken over Fiore.

The rules and submission form will be on my profile, so be sure to go there first before submitting a character.

I will still be working on Storm's Helm as well, but I had to get this idea out of my head, so here we are, lol.

If you have any questions about the story, please just PM me.

That's it for now.

Again, please check out my profile for rules and the submission form!

Until next time!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	2. Pack Mentality

**A/N: **BOOM! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

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**Chapter Two: Pack Mentality**

Aldric stared into the weak fire he had managed to create in the cold and wet atmosphere of the hole in the trunk of a large tree. It was still raining, and the wind had picked up, but the shelter he had found was enough to keep him dry and relatively warm. Though, he wished he had something more than a bed of wet leaves to sleep on for the night. He briefly thought about sleeping on the flat ground instead as he took a large bite out of some deer jerky he had packed, but his back ached for some comfort from the previous night of sleeping on the flat ground; so wet leaves it was.

He focused his thoughts towards Crocus. He only had another couple of days before he would get there and be in the comfort of a real bed and real food. He thought about the warmth and coziness of The Dragon's Horde, the pub where he was to meet his friends. He thought about the hot, spiced pear cider and the famous porkchops with apples they served. He thought about sitting in front of a roaring fire after dinner, drinking coffee with cinnamon cream, listening to everyone tell stories, and a long smoking pipe at the ready for him.

"It's like I like torturing myself," he mumbled as he took another bite of the jerky and moved in closer towards the small fire.

He then moved his thoughts from food and comfort to his friends that he was traveling to meet. He wondered how much they had changed in the past five years. Where had they gone to train? What information had they found on the demons they were hunting? Would they be ready for what they were going to do? Did they still want to do it? Would they all still show up after five years?

"Yeah, I guess I must like torturing myself," he said as he finished off the jerky and took a swig of water.

Aldric was about turn in for the night at that thought, but he caught the whiff of a horrible smell on the wind that entered the hallow tree trunk. He quickly threw a handful of the wet leaves over his fire, easily smothering it. His dark green eyes, now appearing like black jewels in the night, watched through the opening of the tree, searching for any sign of movement. His right hand hovered over the staff of his lance, the weapon hidden under an even larger pile of wet leaves; partially sticking out of the trunk, partly to be at the ready for an attack and partly because it didn't fit into the shelter.

He knew that smell belonged to demons. Not all demons smelled like that, a good number of them were quite hygienically aware. But this scent was especially rank, like death rotting in the hot sun. Aldric's guess was that they were very low ranked demons, pawns of the pawns, cannon fodder at best. They relished in death and rot and fully believed if they carried the smell with them that it would have others fearing them, that it made them come off more powerful than they actually were.

He picked up on the deep growling and grunting noises. It sounded as if they were communicating with each other, which meant that it must have been a pack of them traveling together.

'Damn,' Aldric thought, 'I hate it when they're in packs. Makes them more violent, each trying to outdo the other.'

He could see their movement next, jagged, misshapen shadows in the rain. They were just yards away from him, causing his entire body to tense up, ready to react if need be. He hoped that they would just walk on right by him, that the night and the rain would hide him away from them. He counted at least six of them, so it would be much easier if they just passed him by. But easy was never how Aldric could define his life.

The pack came to a sudden stop just as the first few of them passed by his shelter. Aldric wanted to retch from the stench that filled the area but managed to keep himself still. He heard one of the demons take in a deep breath and he knew he had been discovered. The smell of smoke still lingered from the fire, and he knew that was all it took for an attack to begin.

There was a piercing shriek and then a heavy thunk against the tree he was hiding in. Several smaller thumps were heard right after, Aldric assuming that the demon on the tree was slamming its claws into it.

Several more shrieks followed the first and he knew that the tree would soon be surrounded. He grabbed the cold steel of his lance, the long shaft covered in an obsidian-colored lacquer. He pulled the weapon back just in time as a face full of teeth and empty black eyes appeared in front of the opening of the trunk. He thrusted the lance forward, the long triangle blade going straight through the face. Dark blood spilled to the forest floor, covering the opening of the shelter. Aldric made a face at the blood, knowing he was going to have to step through the stinking mess.

He quickly made it to his feet and used the demon on his lance as a shield as he pushed his way out of the tree. He ignored the squishing of blood and leaves under his boots as he came upon four other demons surrounding the trees. They looked just as horrible as the dead one hanging from his weapon. All sharp and jagged lines, claws, teeth, in shades of black, green, and red. They all growled at him, none being able to speak even the simplest of phrases. Aldric had been correct, these demons were just cannon fodder.

"Let's get this over with," he said, flinging the dead demon into one of the demons facing him.

He drove the blade forward again, piercing through the stomach of the first demon that charged him. He used his forward momentum to slam the demon down on its back, the blade digging into the ground and locking the creature in place. It shrieked in pain and frustration, but Aldric ignored this as he used the pole of the lance to swing around on and land a solid kick into the face of another demon, a few of its sharp teeth flying out of its mouth.

Aldric winced when he felt a sharp tear on his lower leg when he landed from the kick. He looked down to see the demon he had pinned had scratched him. He narrowed his eyes at it and used the shaft to his advantage again. He jumped and pushed himself up into the air, balancing a hand on the end of the lance. He then let himself fall, bringing his boots and full body weight down onto the pinned demon's head. Its head instantly broke underneath Aldric, blood and bone spurting out across the ground.

Aldric did not waste time with the dead demon and yanked his lance from the ground and body it was pushed through. He swung it in a high arc to bring it down onto the demon's head that he had previously kicked. The sharpened edge of the blade sliced right through the head, cutting it in half and dropping the demon instantly.

He turned to face the other two he could hear growling behind him. They now looked a bit more hesitant, but only briefly. Aldric knew that their want to kill him would overpower anything else their brain was telling them. He was soon proved right as they both charged him at the same time.

He charged right back at them before sliding underneath one of them, using the slick mud to help him slide. He pushed the blade up into its stomach, letting his slide guide his blade through the demon. It let out a dying, curdling scream before dropping to the ground. When Aldric popped back up to his feet, he didn't let the other charging demon register what happened. Before it could even turn to look at him, he threw his lance at it. The powerful throw had the weapon piercing the demon through its back, the blade coming out of its chest. It growled and whined as it fell to its knees. Aldric approached it, twisted the blade in its chest to ensure death, and then ripped it out. It soon dropped dead like the rest of its pack.

Silence filled the area along with the smell of rot that had fully seeped into the air despite the rain. Aldric let the rain wash the blood off his lance, though he knew he would have to give it a good cleaning to fully get the stench off it.

'I could have sworn there were six of them,' Aldric thought. He then remembered the thumps against the tree before the fight broke out. He heard the growl behind him, hearing that the creature was still above him on the tree. It had waited for the rest of its pack to fail, leaving it able to land a surprise attack. Unfortunately for the demon, its growling gave it away and Aldric had his own trick up his sleeve.

He waited to hear the scratching of its claws against the tree to indicate that it was jumping towards him. When he heard the scraping sound, he counted to five before running his fingers along three small buttons that were on the shaft of the lance, pressing the top button. The blade retracted from the front of the lance, quickly reappearing on the back of it. Just as the blade appeared behind Aldric, the demon had just made it to his back, its mouth open to bite down on Aldric. Instead of tasting flesh, the long blade went through its mouth and out the back of its head. It struggled against the blade for only a few seconds before it too let out a curdling, dying noise. Once it hung limply from the blade, Aldric pressed the top button again and the blade retracted back to the front of the lance, letting the demon fall to the ground with a heavy thump.

There was silence again, Aldric only hearing the rain hitting the ground. This time he was sure he had taken out all the demons that were in the pack. He then moved back towards the tree trunk he had been using as shelter. He moved as much of the bloody leaves at the opening of it as he could before entering the hallow tree to grab his pack. He pulled out an old rag from it before closing it back up and exiting the tree.

"Guess I'm not sleeping tonight," Aldric grumbled, using the old rag to wipe off his lance as best his could. When he felt it was clean enough, he threw the soiled rag onto one of the demons and placed his lance onto his back, locking it into place. He pulled his hood up, despite the fact that his hair and face were already drenched. He knew he had to get moving. This had been a relatively small pack, so more were bound to show up and possibly with the higher ranked demon that commanded them. That was not something he was wanting to take on alone in the rainy dark.

Though, he tried to look on the bright side. He supposed he would be getting to Crocus faster than he planned. Closer to the comfort of hot food and drink, of a bed, and his companions.

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**A/N: **And there we are! Hope you all enjoyed it!

I rather liked this chapter. I was slightly worried when I started writing the fighting parts of this chapter since it's been a while since I wrote some good action scenes and I wasn't sure how well it would turn out, so I'm rather pleased with how everything turned out. I hope you liked it too!

Now then, I'm still selecting characters. I have selected a few so far that I felt really hit home with everything and I can't wait to get to introducing these characters! Well, I can't wait to introduce all the characters once I have all of them. I am holding off on selecting any more characters currently. It is not because I don't have ones to select from, but there are some people still working on characters and I want to give everyone time to get them sent in before I make any other selections. I will say I have read all the characters that have been sent into me though, so if you haven't gotten a response from me after sending a character in, don't worry! I have read them. I just have made any other final decisions!

I just wanted to make a couple of things clear here though. I will say some of these things are my fault since I didn't go over them in the first chapter. So I apologize about that. I probably should have waited till the next day to post the story instead of at 3 in the morning, but eh, that's usually how I work.

So first off, please keep in mind that Aldric and his companions all know each other. They all knew each other before they separated for the five years to train. They could have known Aldric or other characters for years or even just one year before they separate, but no matter when they joined the group, they all had a bond before separating. So no meeting Aldric during the past five years or anything like that. If any of you that have sent in characters need to change anything with your history section, you are welcomed (and encouraged) to do so.

Next, the current state of Fiore is rather chaotic. There are places, like Magnolia and Crocus, that are still safe, thanks to Fairy Tail and an upgraded Rune Knights. There are like places like Oak Town and Hargeon that are surviving, but are struggling with attacks from the demons. Then there will be cities and towns that have either been destroyed or taken over and used by demons. The Order of Ash will have a HQ, but currently its whereabouts are unknown. And each general of the Order of Ash will have their own HQ, but often it is hidden, or they are traveling about Fiore that they are often not there. Just…a lot of chaotic movement on the demons' side of things. Also, the demons have been moving throughout Fiore for the past 20 years. It was a slow start, but things have become much more intense in recent years. Also, there is no set look to the demons. The pawns are usually bland and boring looking. Like someone thought up the look of a demon and then hit the copy button…kinda like orcs from LOTR. But all other higher ranked demons have much more interesting looks, let your imagination go with their looks!

Then, with the demon slaying magic, if you want to use elements, you can. Just not the basic ones like fire, water (ice), wind, and earth. You can, however, use branches of those basics, like metal, sand, lava, etc. Just wanted to throw that out there. And I'm not sticking to the whole idea of demon slayers eating their magic to gain strength in battle, so that opens up other forms of magic to use as well.

BUT PLEASE LOOK AT MY PROFILE FOR CURRENT RESTRICTIONS.

If you have any other questions about anything, please PM me.

Thank you all for the reviews/favorites/follows! They were awesome just like always!

That's it for now, so until next time!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


	3. Old Friends

**A/N: **CHA! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

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**Chapter Three: Old Friends**

Even with the autumn weather set in and the river being freezing cold, Aldric had to stop in front of it to clean himself up and to clean his lance. He had already finished cleaning himself up as best he could and had moved onto his weapon. The rain had stopped for the day, but the clouds hung thick, heavy, and gray, practically threatening to let loose another shower. Aldric moved his hands quickly in order to be back on his way to Crocus before that happened.

He grumbled over a few patches of dried demon blood on the blade, wishing he had time the night before to clean the weapon instead of waiting until that morning to do it. Every so often, he got a whiff of the horrid smell of the demons, which only soured his mood further. He just wanted to be rid of that smell. He had traveled with it all night and he was completely over it.

"I best get used to that smell though," he huffed as he rubbed a patch clean, leaving the blade shining in the dull light of morning, "We'll be facing many more of those bastards."

He was on the last dirty spot on the blade when he suddenly felt another presence in the area he occupied. His body grew tense, he dropped the towel he had been using to clean the lance, and his hands tightened around the weapon. He turned on his heels quickly, doing his best to not make noise. He stared out into the woods that surrounded the river, trying to catch any sign of movement. He saw nothing, but he knew that never meant that there wasn't anything hiding from him. He decided to slowly move towards the trees, crouching down behind a rather wide trunk.

Aldric waited for another few minutes, but the sense that someone, or something, else was in the area with him remained. He moved a leg out from behind the tree, wanting to move further into the forest. Just as his foot touched the ground, an arrow whizzed by him, sticking in the ground right next to his boot. He quickly brought his leg back in beside him, cursing at the thought at having to fight more demons. He assumed this to be a higher leveled demon, considering they were using a weapon to fire at him.

He then heard a whisper of movement heading towards him, and Aldric knew then that he would have to jump into a battle mindset. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself before lunging out from behind the tree, letting out a shout as he thrusted his lance forward.

He came to a screeching halt as he realized that it was a human that stood before him, arrow already notched and ready to be released right into his head. The other man looked just as surprise to see another human instead of a demon, considering how wide his eyes had gone when Aldric revealed himself. The two men stared each other down for a long moment before realization donned on them.

"Holy shit, Hull!"

"Aldric? Aldric! Jesus man, I almost took you out!"

"Yeah, right, and you were almost skewered!"

Hull let out a laugh at the man, "Oh man, I didn't expect to meet up with anyone until I got to Crocus."

"Same, I guess we just have good timing."

"I guess we can put these away," he motioned towards the weapons. He placed his arrow back into his quiver, placing his bow over his shoulder, "Dude, I'm so happy to see you! How have you been?! And look at your hair! It's so long now you can do a manbun!"

Aldric placed his lance on his back with a smile, "I figured a manbun suited me," he said with a chuckle, reaching a hand out towards Hull. The two men clasped hands before pulling each other in for a hug, "And you look about the same. Still got that lumberjack look going on," he said once they pulled away and motioned towards his red, blue, and black checkered flannel he wore along with jeans and hiking boots.

"What can I say? My fashion sense has always been on point!"

"Ariel would tell you differently."

"Ariel is too into brand names. You think that dude is still mad that we split for five years?"

"Probably," Aldric said with a grimace, remembering how angry the man had been with the decision on the group splitting up, "But I also think he'll be too overwhelmed to see us to remember to yell at us anymore over it."

"Only if he shows."

"He'll show. Out of the twelve of us, he's the one I'd bet money on to show."

"I'm hurt! You wouldn't bet money on me?!"

"You're already here."

"True," Hull said, moving to follow Aldric when the man motioned to follow him back towards the river, Hull picking up the arrow he had shot earlier on the way, "So what have you been up to these five years? And where's that nephew of yours?"

Aldric came to a stop upon hearing Hull's question. Luckily for him, they had come to the river's edge, so his sudden stop didn't come off as odd to the other man. Aldric did his best to shake the tension from his body as he grabbed his lance and dipped it into the water, grabbing the towel again to finish cleaning it, "Gotta save those stories for when everyone is together again in Crocus. Don't want to be telling stories over and over again, yeah?" he said, forcing a smile to come to his face.

Hull stared down at him, an eyebrow quirked, but decided against pushing Aldric for further information. If he remembered anything from five years ago, he knew how stubborn Aldric could be once he made up his mind about something, "Yeah, I guess you're right," he shrugged as his eyes moved to the weapon in Aldric's hands, "You run into some demons recently?"

"Last night," he answered, inwardly sighing in relief that Hull had let things go for now, "Six of them ambushed me, or at least tried to. Their smell gave them away. That's why I was on edge when you came into the area."

"Same. I ran into some pawns myself a couple days ago. Their scent is always so bad no matter how many times I smell it," he said, making a disgusted face, "But they're getting bolder, coming this close to Crocus. It won't be long before they try an attack on the capital."

"I know," Aldric agreed as he wiped his clean blade dry and locked it in place on his back, "But Queen Hisui has created a much more powerful Rune Knights. Dealing with the demons is on the daily for them, so they have to be much stronger than they once were. And then there's also Prince Shian. He's a talented mage, combat trained, and can run battle strategies around most of the generals in the Rune Knights. That's what the rumors say anyways, but being the son of Hisui, it's highly likely that those rumors are true. Crocus won't go down easily."

"I guess the prince has come into his own over the past few years. Still won't stop the demons from moving forward though."

"Yes, well, that's what they do," Aldric said, pulling his hood up as drops of rain finally began to fall, "And that's why we need to stop them, so let's get heading towards Crocus while it's still considered a safe city."

**. : + : .**

By evening, the pair were about a mile outside of Crocus. They had made it out of the forest and onto cleared land for farming that surrounded the capital. They had been on the main road close to an hour when they caught sight of dull iron and steel. They exchanged looks before walking quicker to reach what they saw.

Upon getting closer, the two men realized it was an army of Rune Knights that were making their way back to Crocus. The huge group was made up of magically run jeeps and tanks, knights on horses, horses pulling carriages, and men and women everywhere walking forward in sleek, dark armor, the emblem of Crocus branded into the heart of the armor in a blazing white.

Though, the worst sight had to be the plethora of unmoving legs sticking out from a few of the back carriages, Aldric and Hull both knowing that they were full of dead knights. They cringed and frowned at those carriages before moving forward to speak with one of the walking soldiers.

"Excuse me!" Aldric called out, receiving several turned heads his way. He made eye contact with a young woman and he beelined towards her, "Who is leading this group?"

"Who wants to know?" she snapped, scowling at the two random brunette men in front of her.

"Touchy," Hull said.

"I'm not in the mood to entertain fanboys."

"Look, just tell us who's in charge and we'll get out of your hair," Aldric said, hoping the prospect of being left alone would be enough for the woman to answer him.

"Tch, General Mallory, now piss off!"

"Thanks," Aldric said, nodding to her and taking off towards the front of the army.

It took the men some time to make it to the front of the army, but once they made it, it was hard to miss who was in charge. The man was surrounded by other soldiers, but his black armor was smooth and glossy, almost like moving silk, despite scratches and chips showing in the armor. The brand of the Crocus emblem was a glittering silver over his heart, and the silver cape laying out behind him looked as soft as velvet. Even his horse stood out, considering it was a huge Shire horse, its body a midnight black and the hair around its legs a milky white.

"General Mallory!" Aldric and Hull called out to him, waving to get the man's attention.

Many of the soldiers around the general turned towards the two men, their hands immediately going for their swords.

"What do you want with the general?!" one of the soldiers shouted.

"To speak with an old friend!" Aldric said.

Upon hearing Aldric's words, the general busted through the soldiers around him, the goliath of an animal coming to stop directly in front of Aldric and Hull.

"Sweet Jesus! Are you trying to compensate for something with that thing?!" Hull said, motioning towards the horse.

"Those are bold words, even for old friends," the general said, looking at the two men through his helmet.

"Yeah, well, I've never really been one for sugarcoating."

General Mallory watched the two men carefully, "Who are you two? What old friends are you supposed to be?"

"Seriously dude?! It's only been five years!" Hull shouted.

"Maybe you should take that damned helmet off and come back down to earth with the rest of us, Cedric," Aldric said, a smirk playing at his lips.

The man did just that, sliding down off his horse and landing with a heavy thud. His soldiers wore shocked expressions, unsure of how to deal with their commander listening to random strangers. The general then pulled off his helmet, waves of black hair spilling from it. A pale face with dark stubble looked at them, his pale gray eyes taking them in. Then without warning, a huge smile broke across the man's face, causing a scar across his face to scrunch up, and he moved in much faster than expected to bear hug both Aldric and Hull. The soldiers in the background practically had their jaws on the ground now upon seeing the general hugging two unknown men.

"About damn time you recognized us," Hull said as he patted the man's back hard.

"You'll have to excuse me," Cedric said as he pulled away from the two men, "We've been walking in the rain and cold for days after fighting in the rain and cold for days. It tends to make a man slow after a while," he explained, his smile waning for a moment, "But look at you two! What a surprise! I was beginning to think you'd never show your ugly faces in Crocus again!"

"Look who's talking," Hull said.

"This thing is a goldmine in attracting people to warm my bed, if you catch my drift," he said, pointing towards the large scar on his face and lifting his eyebrows up suggestively.

"Yeah, we got it. You still haven't learned the meaning of subtlety," Aldric said with a laugh.

"Don't think I ever will," Cedric said, grinning widely, "And what about your own scar? You still coming up with wild stories for it?" he said, turning to Hull. Hull opened his mouth to answer, but Cedric cut him off, "Wait! Don't tell me yet! Save it for later at The Dragon's Horde! That's where you're heading, yeah?"

"Yes," Aldric said, "That's where we agreed to meet everyone again."

"The whole group?!" Cedric asked, excitement clearly evident in his voice and on his face. He earned a nod from both men, "Wonderful! I can't wait to see the rest of their ugly faces too! Come! Walk with me! I'll escort you back into the city!"

Aldric and Hull placed themselves on either side of Cedric and the trio began walking forward, leaving the rest of the soldiers still in shock and to take care of Cedric's giant of a horse.

"So where are you all coming from?" Aldric asked.

"Oak Town," Cedric answered, frowning, "Demons have been trying harder to take over the town, so we were sent out to stop them. We finally managed to get them to retreat, but we lost a lot of good men and women doing it. They're getting stronger with each attack and I'm afraid we're going to lose another big city soon. We can't afford to keep losing cities and towns like this."

The two men agreed with him.

"They're getting closer to Crocus as well," Aldric said, "Both Hull and I fought groups of them on our way here."

"I'm afraid of that too. It will take a lot to take Crocus down, but if they're starting to move in on the capital now, that must mean they believe they have the means to take us out."

The trio became quiet at that thought, each thinking of what could be done to stop the hordes of demons.

"I am happy to see you two again and that you're meeting the others in your group as well," Cedric said lowly, "I remember what you told me on what you were planning on doing. I don't wish that on my worst enemy, but if going after The Order of Ash means it'll stop all the chaos and death, I hope you are victorious in your journey. You all are braver men than most and I look up to you all more than you know. You give me hope when it feels like you are all about to lose yours."

It was now deadly silent between the trio. The two men wanted to thank Cedric for his words, but it was hard to do so when they also knew he was right. For everything they were going to be fighting for and for all the people they would be trying to save, they were certain they would be losing more than they knew in the process.

* * *

**A/N: **And there we are! I hope you enjoyed it!

**Credits**

**Hulltor 'Hull' Vale – Hawk725**

Any characters not listed in the credit portion are my own creations, so if you don't see them in the credits, they are my characters.

Whoo! I was finally able to get this completed! And I'm so excited that I was able to introduce one of the other characters in this chapter! I hope you all liked him. And I hope he turned out the way he should have for his creator! I already love the relationship between him and Aldric, and then adding Cedric into the mix between them made it even better (minus the serious moment at the end there).

Anyways, all slots have been filled, so thank you to everyone who sent in characters! I hope you all will enjoy the entire cast once we meet them all!

There are also a couple people I will be getting back to in PMs here soon. I was busy the past couple of days, so I have been unable to get back to a couple of questions. Just know I have seen the messages and will be getting back to you soon.

Thank you to everyone for the reviews and for reading! You all are super awesome!

I think that's it for this time around, so until next chapter!

Yours Truly,

MyDearWatson


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